Heligoland

Britain, Germany, and the Struggle for the North Sea

Jan Rüger

The story of Heligoland - the small island in the North Sea, set between Britain and Germany, which came to stand as a symbol of Anglo-German conflict

... from British colony, to German naval fortress under Kaiser Wilhelm and Adolf Hitler, to British bombing range post-1945, and finally to German holiday resort in the late twentieth century

A fascinating and revealing microcosm of the often troubled relations between the two countries, over two centuries and two world wars

Heligoland

Britain, Germany, and the Struggle for the North Sea

Jan Rüger

Description

On 18 April 1947, British forces set off the largest non-nuclear explosion in history. The target was a small island in the North Sea, thirty miles off the German coast, which for generations had stood as a symbol of Anglo-German conflict: Heligoland.

A long tradition of rivalry was to come to an end here, in the ruins of Hitler's island fortress. Pressed as to why it was not prepared to give Heligoland back, the British government declared that the island represented everything that was wrong with the Germans: 'If any tradition was worth breaking, and if any sentiment was worth changing, then the German sentiment about Heligoland was such a one'.

Drawing on a wide range of archival material, Jan Rüger explores how Britain and Germany have collided and collaborated in this North Sea enclave. For much of the nineteenth century, this was Britain's smallest colony, an inconvenient and notoriously discontented outpost at the edge of Europe. Situated at the fault line between imperial and national histories, the island became a metaphor for Anglo-German rivalry once Germany acquired it in 1890. Turned into a naval stronghold under the Kaiser and again under Hitler, it was fought over in both world wars. Heavy bombardment by the Allies reduced it to ruins, until the Royal Navy re-took it in May 1945. Returned to West Germany in 1952, it became a showpiece of reconciliation, but one that continues to bear the scars of the twentieth century.

Tracing this rich history of contact and conflict from the Napoleonic Wars to the Cold War, Heligoland brings to life a fascinating microcosm of the Anglo-German relationship. For generations this cliff-bound island expressed a German will to bully and battle Britain; and it mirrored a British determination to prevent Germany from establishing hegemony on the Continent. Caught in between were the Heligolanders and those involved with them: spies and smugglers, poets and painters, sailors and soldiers.

Heligoland is the compelling story of a relationship which has defined modern Europe.

Heligoland

Britain, Germany, and the Struggle for the North Sea

Jan Rüger

Author Information

Jan Rüger is Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London. He is the author of The Great Naval Game: Britain and Germany in the Age of Empire and joint editor of Rewriting German History.

Heligoland

Britain, Germany, and the Struggle for the North Sea

Jan Rüger

Reviews and Awards

"Fascinating." - Neal Ascherson, London Review of Books

"Pacey and erudite... succeeds admirably." - European History Quarterly

"A Rüger's work on this small island is historiography at its best." - Dieter Langewiesche, German Historical Institute London Bulletin

"Rüger's book moves seamlessly between the views and demands of the inhabitants of Heligoland... and the considerations and policies impacting the island in the halls of government in Great Britain and Germany. Well-researched from multiple archives... the book also provides a useful and important reminder to historians of the need to consider a "long view"." - Alan M. Anderson, Naval Historical Foundation

"This brilliant, quirky book tells the almost unknown story of the tiny North Sea German island that became an unlikely corner of the British Empire." - Sunday Times, Best Books for the Summer 2017

"The reader of Rüger's volume will be fascinated, surprised, horrified and moved." - John R. Davis, Reviews in History

"A fascinating book which uses a scrap of land in the North Sea to illustrate the tumultuous relationship between Britain and Germany." - History Hit Podcast with Dan Snow

"Rüger's book brilliantly spins a far bigger history out of one small, half-forgotten place. For so long the fault line between two powers, Heligoland deserves to be rescued from oblivion; it has found an admirable historian." - Ben Wilson, The Sunday Telegraph

"The whole book is studded with unexpected gems about extraordinary people ... a fine tale." - Max Hastings, The Sunday Times

"Mr Ruger makes his case that Heligoland's fortunes are a useful bellwether of wider relations and he relates his story in an engaging style ... More people should know Heligoland's story for the echoes it has today." - The Economist

"Fascinating" - Ian Brunskill, Wall Street Journal Europe

"A gem of a study ... concise, scholarly, and readable. On one level it is simply an authoritative narrative history of an island and ist people, but on another it represents so much more: a case study of the twists and turns of Britain's relationship with Germany, Europe, and the wider world over two tumultuous centuries." - Nick Hewitt, Military History Monthly

"Visitors today may be quite unaware of Heligoland's curious history or of the weight of symbolism it once bore. Day trippers come now to enjoy the bird watching, the 1950s architecture, the duty-free cigarettes. Before setting out, they should read Mr. Ruger's fascinating book." - The Wall Street Journal

"For those devourers of "forgotten" history, this book is a must ... riveting" - Ian Hernon, Tribune

"distinguished German historian Jan Rüger ... has written a micro-history that captures the complexity of Anglo-German relations" - Nigel Winser, Geographical

"A brilliant and subtle history of Anglo-German relations, told through the evocative study of a contested island. This fascinating book is a triumphant demonstration of the power of microhistory." - Christopher Clark, author of The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914

"This is a brilliant demonstration of how the very small can have a significance over time on the very large. Drawing on literature, cartography, art, music and film, as well as a wide spread of archives, Jan Rüger shows how and why Heligoland became caught up in a succession of epic and destructive wars, conflicting but also overlapping national identities, the rise and fall of Anglo-German antagonism, and the competition for empire." - Linda Colley, Princeton University

"Jan Rüger's new book takes the North Sea island of Heligoland as a lens through which to examine Anglo-German relations over the past two centuries. The result is an entertaining and illuminating study full of colourful detail, that traces the phases of co-operation and hostility between the two powers over the decades from the Kaiser to Hitler and beyond." - Richard J. Evans, author of The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1914

Heligoland

Britain, Germany, and the Struggle for the North Sea

Jan Rüger

From Our Blog

'Blow the bloody place up.' There was nothing ambiguous about the instructions which Commander F. T. Woosnam had been given. Woosnam was the naval engineer in charge of preparing Heligoland for Operation 'Big Bang', the destruction of all Germany's military installations on the small island.

As Britain embarks on its journey towards the exit from the European Union, the Anglo-German relationship is bound to play a central role. No other country is likely to matter more for the outcome of the negotiations than Germany, one of the UK's most reliable partners in recent years. So how should we now think of this relationship which has defined modern Europe?